Ever Since
by kasplosion
Summary: Boy 1; her first real friend. Boy 2; has more than a lot in common with her. Boy 3; just keeps coming back. The girl? Well, she's grateful. But none of them would ever hear her admit it. //A songfic to K. T. Tunstall's "Suddenly I see."//


summary: Boy 1; her first real friend. Boy 2; has more than a lot in common with her. Boy 3; just keeps coming back. The girl? Well, she's grateful. But none of them would ever hear her admit it. /A songfic to K. T. Tunstall's "Suddenly I see."/

a/n: posting this today so i could say "I'M POSTING A FIC ON MY BIRTHDAY! AREN'T I THE COOLIEST?!"

disclaimer: avatar belongs to some other lucky peoples and so does "suddenly i see," by K. T. Tunstall.

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_Ever Since_

_Her face is a map of the world  
Is a map of the world  
You can see she's a beautiful girl  
She's a beautiful girl  
And everything around her is a silver pool of light  
The people who surround her feel the benefit of it  
It makes you calm  
She holds you captivated in her palm_

"But, Dad!" she balled her fists. "Why won't you let me go to school?"

"Toph," her father replied, "I'm only worried about you. If you go to a school with other children, who knows what they'll do."

"They'll play with me!" she fought back.

"No," he said. "They'll hurt you."

"Nuh - "

A knock sounded at the door and a servant stepped in the study. "Sir," he began, "a strange boy is at the door."

Toph's eye's lit up. She jumped up from her chair and darted past the servant. "I'll take care of this, Dad!" She was out in the living room before her father could protest. When she arrived, she saw a boy around her age sitting on the plastic covered couch, hands folded, back straight, smiling brightly.

"Hi, I'm Toph," she introduced herself. "Why're you here?"

The boy thought it polite to introduce himself as well. "I'm Aang, nice to meet you, Toph. I accidently kicked my ball over the fence. Can I go get it?"

"Cool!" Toph exclaimed. She had never played ball before. "Let's go!" She grabbed hold of Aang's hand and began to show him outside.

"Toph, who's this?" her mother questioned. Her father was beside her, trying to keep his temper in check.

"His name's Aang, Mom," the girl replied, still smiling. "We're gonna go get his ball, okay?"

"Yes, that's a good idea," she said, watching the duo race to the backyard, before adding, "Be careful!" She held her husband back when the boy told her daughter;

"Wanna play ball with me after?"

_Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)  
This is what I wanna be  
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)  
Why the hell it means so much to me_

He didn't say it, but she was his first real friend, too.

_I feel like walking the world  
Like walking the world  
You can hear she's a beautiful girl  
She's a beautiful girl  
She fills up every corner like she's born in black and white  
Makes you feel warmer when you're trying to remember  
What you heard  
She likes to leave you hanging on her word_

One evening, Toph and another boy walked along a sidewalk after their sports practices. She held a soccer ball under her arm and he bounced a basketball at his side.

"Shudup! Just 'cause I'm short doesn't mean I can't play b-ball, Hot Head," she said to him, punching him in the arm.

He replied, clinching at the impact of her hit, "Whatever, height has an advantage in _my_ sport, and you happen to not have it."

She snorted. "You sound like you own the game."

"Because I do," he said, half haughtily, half teasingly, "Just like I own everything else, including you." He scooped her ball into his hands and held it over his head.

"You've got it all wrong, _Zuko_," she hissed, with that malicious grin of hers. "I am the who owns you." Toph swiped his ball and threw it at his head. He recoiled and dropped the soccer ball into her hand.

Zuko rubbed his head and scowled. "But, I actually own you, though. Everyone in this whole freaking neighborhood, I own them..." His voice trailed off. It was true; his family was the most abundant in town... It wasn't so much as _he _owning it all, but his father. He decided not to continue his comment, knowing it was touchy subject, for both of them.

For awhile, the two walked in silence.

"Ya know," Toph finallly spoke, "Sometimes I wish I could have been born without all the money... I wish that my dad wasn't so caught up in his work - so caught up in getting us more money. I wish he would go to my games, look at my report card. I wish he would care... I wish..." She stopped herself.

"... It would all go away." he finished for her. He was in the same position as her; offspring of a business man, of a money first, everything else last kind of family, of a father who didn't care, and if he did, it was for all the wrong reasons. There was no going around it - no eraser - it was just how life had unrolled for them.

"Yah."

"Me, too."

_Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)  
This is what I wanna be  
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)  
Why the hell it means so much to me_

Both felt like they could be themselves with each other, because he was just like her; a descendent of a wealthy family who didn't want to be.

_And she's taller than most  
And she's looking at me  
I can see her eyes looking from a page in a magazine  
Oh she makes me feel like I could be a tower  
A big strong tower  
She got the power to be  
The power to give  
The power to see_

"GET UP, SNOOZLES!" someone yelled in his ear. He waved his hand in the air and covered his head with a pillow, trying to ignore the wake up call.

He failed.

"Get outta bed, or I'm calling Suki, Yue, _and_ Ty Lee," she threatened. He could practically see the merciless grin on her face.

He groaned, coming out of his haven. After last night, he didn't want to do anything with anyone. It seemed like he wouldn't get his way.

"What do you want, Toph? What time is it?"

"Ten A.M., Meathead. Time to get over those tramps."

He sighed, covering up again. "I don't wanna talk about it," he muttered in his sheets.

"Listen, Sokka," she said after awhile, "the only way to move on is to talk about it..." He felt her sit on the foot of his bed. "... And get your butt out of this house!" She pulled off the blankets and grabbed his feet, literally dragging him out of his room.

Sokka laughed and tried to free himself of his friend's grip. "Toph, stop!"

She steered him into his drawer.

"Okay, Okay! I'll get up!"

She hauled him over to his closet. "You've got five minutes, and we're blowing this popsicle stand." Toph towered over him, giving him the evil eye. She stepped on his back, heading for the door.

He smiled to himself. "Hey, Toph?"

She stopped at the door frame.

"Thanks."

"Four minutes."

_Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)  
This is what I wanna be  
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)  
Why the hell it means so much to me_

Even after multiple relationships gone wrong, he kept coming back just like his "toy," as she called it.

_Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)  
This is what I wanna be  
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)  
Why the hell it means so much to me_

Ever since that fateful day Aang showed up on her door step, Toph was free to do anything she wanted - with the exception of several restrictions.

Ever since that inevitable realization with Zuko, Toph's been able to explain to her father it was _her_ life, not his - to voice her opinion even more so.

Ever since that alarming incident Sokka was involved in, Toph had the ability to help people other than herself, accepting only gratitude as her reward.

Ever since she met those three boys, Toph could rely on any one of them, knowing she would always have someone to talk to, knowing they would have her backs, knowing she would have lasting friendships with each one of them.

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a/n: yes, i know not every song verse is here, but that's the way i, uhh, tailored it... o-o;; and the only reason i chose this song was becuz it was the one i was listening to when i thought of the idea... and it sorta-kinda fits... you just gotta read real closely. XD

anywho... i seriously dont know which one of Toph's (main) ships i support fully (even if just a few weeks ago i was a rabid tokka fan. what can i say, time's are a'changin') i like them all, thanks to fics that are just too good to not agree with. :D would anyone like to voice their opinion in a review? that would be really nice. anyone who does gets... uhh... some virtual love! ... this is the part where you click the little purpley-blue-ish button. n-n;;


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